Ransack Marauders
left|160px Ransack Marauders - The Family. The Legends. Diverse, independent crew, founded on December 17 2003. Owners of Acute Irony on , an iron monger. Form and Function From the crew public statement: The Ransack Marauders are all about the people behind the pirates. A large group of firm friends, our crew's door is always open to hard working, enthusiastic mates who aren't afraid of having a good time. If you are new to the oceans, we'll make it our duty to show you the ropes, as long as you are prepared to work for your poe. The crew prides itself on diversity, so whether you prefer sword-fighting or pillaging, socialising or shop-keeping, you can be sure there will be a place for you here. The Ransack Marauders are functionally a quasi-democracy, even though crew information labels them an oligarchy. The captain of the crew tends to act as a figurehead, with little more power than any other senior officer, though they are often the one called upon to resolve any disagreements between crew members, and serve as a contact point for people outside the crew. In reality, decisions are made by the senior officers as a group, unless the issue is a major one for the crew (for example, the election of a new captain) in which case all ranked officer and above have equal say. The Ransack Marauders are a crew with many faces, and among their ranks are pirates experienced in every aspect of the game. They are a 'jack of all trades' crew, and are willing to teach anyone the basics of puzzling, pillaging, or shopkeeping. Crew History In late 2003, a group of four pirates splintered from a crew called Shadowlink, who flew under the flag Compass Rose. Chihiro, Shark, and Calicohydro followed Ironfisted and together they founded a new crew called the Ransack Marauders (RM) on December 17, 2003. Initially flagless, the RM began their careers with a dual focus. Based off of , they pursued both a merchant focus (though foraging and selling commodities from the and a military path (through aggressively pursuing and attacking other player ships.) As their numbers grew, they added to their ranks of senior officers, promoting always from within to reward loyal and hardworking pirates with a voice in the crew's direction. Orvile was promoted to senior officer in January 2004, followed closely by Pjotr the following month. Meanwhile, Compass Rose had merged with Sanctioned Insanity to form the new flag Silver Dawn (SD) while the fledgling RM made its way independently through Midnight. Still, the crew leadership maintained strong ties with the new flag, through former flagmates from Compass Rose. Eventually, the crew saw the benefit of joining a flag of like-minded pirates, and negotiations between the young flag and the only slightly older crew began. This culminated in RM joining SD on January 17, 2004. Secure in their new political home, RM continued to grow in numbers. Still based out of Emerald, they began to amass supplies intended for use in colonization of outlying islands, as well as money to donate to the flag for that purpose. As captain, Ironfisted had become the crew's voice in SD's Royalty Council. He soon found that this was a task for which he was not particularly well-suited, and stepped down from the post. Chihiro replaced him, and took over the position in late February. Meanwhile, the conquest of islands in Midnight had begun with the first tentative strikes against islands in the Emerald and Diamond archipelagos. SD had decided as a flag to move north and colonize Eta Island, and in preparation for that, they relocated their base of operations to . Following the Looterati conquest of - the first island in the to open for blockading - RM moved there to await their chance for Eta with the rest of their flag. The crew had continued to grow, and with some of the senior officers spending less time available, Feegle was promoted to senior officer. His promotion came on July 7. Around the same time, Shark was recognized for his outstanding service to SD, and was titled a Lord of Silver Dawn in mid-July. SD's attack on Eta began on July 24, and despite a hotly-contested blockade and a spirited defense by Vilya, the attacking flag took possession of the island. RM contributed as frontline shipmates, as well as commanders - at the first battle of Eta, Shark was one of SD's top brig commanders. Following the conquest of Eta and SD's construction of a fort, the flag began to construct shoppes to reward and thank those crews who had worked hard to amass materials, poe, and manpower in order to successfully colonize Eta. RM opted for a Weavery, and in by the end of August, String Theory went into business with Ironfisted as its nominal owner and a team of managers from within the crew. Ironfisted ran String Theory for several weeks, before deciding to scale back the amount of time that he spent with the crew. He stepped down from his prominent roles; Pjotr took over the ownership of the weavery and Shark was elected by the officers of RM as their new captain, both in mid-September. Following the first battle of Luthien, when the Royalty of SD became aware that there needed to be someone dedicated to the upkeep and organization of their Armada, Feegle stepped forward and volunteered for the newly-created post of Quartermaster-General. He co-founded the Office with Melesse of the Wings of Aesthir on October 4, and created a system for tracking the ships of Silver Dawn's armada. For this, and other actions above and beyond the call of duty, he was titled a Lord of Silver Dawn on October 21. Feegle also showed his dedication to the crew when, at Pjotr's decision to retire from ownership of String Theory, he took over the shoppe with an aggressive and active change in policy. Around the same time, three officers who had shown exemplary service to RM were promoted. McStew, Hellequin, and Tristanjones were appointed as senior officers on October 10. They continued to serve well as senior officers, but eventually due to differences in opinion with some of the other members of the crew leadership, they chose to leave RM and form their own crew. Divine Hellions was founded on December 18th, mere days after their exodus. Despite the turmoil, members of RM continued to take active roles within the flag, as well. Shark was appointed to Admiral in the newly-formed Monarch's Cabinet on November 22. When Chihiro stepped down from her role as Princess on December 10, Pjotr became the newest royalty representative, and served for more than two months in that demanding role. Upon his resignation on February 16, 2005, Shark was appointed to the Royalty Council. On January 5, 2005, with the departure of the Wings of Aesthir from SD, Feegle became the sole Quartermaster-General, and sought approval from the Royalty Council to recruit assistants. This was approved, and several other flag members were appointed as his assistants, forming the base for the current cabinet procedures (One lead cabinet members and as many assistants as that person needs.) Finally, with the former monarch's abdication, Chihiro ran for election to Monarch of Silver Dawn, and was crowned Queen on January 24, 2005 With the departure of the founders of the Divine Hellions, the number of senior officers had fallen again. To rectify that, Amilliss was promoted to their ranks on January 7, 2005. Following after her were Croc, Caleblue, and Featherfin, three other dedicated longtime officers - promoted on March 4 and March 22, and then on June 23, respectively. With the second wave of construction on Eta came a second crew shoppe. This time, the crew opted for an Ironmonger named Acute Irony, nominally owned by Calicohydro, who had a great deal of experience with an ironmonger stall on Jorvik. Acute Irony opened for business on March 18. As summer approached, there was a shuffle in Cabinet responsibilities. Feegle resigned as Quartermaster-General on June 1. Featherfin was appointed to the post of Head Diplomat on July 11, a position he held until December. More changes occurred as the autumn of 2005 dawned. On September 1, Pjotr assumed the captaincy of the crew from Shark, who stepped down from his position in the Admiralty on October 12th. Prior to this, Sunduchess was promoted to senior officer in recognition of her position as an influential and authoritative crew mate on September 16th, and Feegle was crowned as the next monarch of Silver Dawn on September 18th. As 2006 arrived, the Ransack Marauders took the option to break off Silver Dawn to raise the colors of their one-crew flag, Marauders Pact. After a failed attempt to colonize Frond in June, RM took the opening of Midsummer as another opportunity to stir up the blockade scene. November 18, 2006 marked their successful colonization of Midsummer, and they would occupy the island for the next two years. In the midst this exciting time, Bisquick was promoted to Senior Officer on August 8. Business continued on as 2007 rolled around. On February 13, Chihiro took over from Pjotr as Captain, and the promotion of Jimbolicious to Senior Officer shortly followed. Dekalyn's SO promotion came some time later on November 28. The loss of Midsummer in November 2008 prompted an internal discussion on the crew's direction. Satisfied with their run of independence, they looked to their friends for a blockade-happy place and settled in with the Broadsiders on November 16. With crew members gradually moving on, RM entered into quieter times. Chihiro stepped down as captain on May 27, 2011 to bring Pjotr back to the helm. This prompted the long overdue promotion of Liska to Senior Officer. With the Broadsiders going through a similar decrease in activity, once more RM looked to join a livelier flag. On May 29, 2011, they were welcomed into their current home of Crimson Tide. On April 29, 2012, Bisquick took the reigns as Captain.